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Town avoided disaster that played out in Lawrence

Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, MA)

Oct. 12--LAWRENCE -- Before the fiasco where an overflow crowd of as many as 10,000 concert-goers trashed Veterans Memorial Stadium on Oct. 2, there was the fiasco that didn't happen at a similar concert Floripa Productions hoped to stage in Hudson, Massachusetts.

Unimpressed with planning by Floripa Productions, the company organizing the Aug. 7 event at Hudson'sPortuguese Club, that town canceled the show.

The promoters of the concert failed to negotiate the contracts and permits needed to hold the event, including ones for police protection, shuttle-bus service and parking.

At about the same time, Floripa Productions, of Malden, was knocking on doors at Lawrence City Hall, seeking approvals and permits to hold a similar concert at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

They got them all -- including a liquor permit.

In return, the city collected a $20,000 fee.

Now, Lawrence officials are preparing a lawsuit Mayor Daniel Rivera said will allege that Floripa Productions and its ticket-holders did as much as $850,000 in damages to the stadium.

Claims will include that Floripa crews drilled into the athletic field's artificial turf and track as they installed stages and other structures. On the Monday morning after the concert, the field was discovered to be buried in trash and debris, including glass shards from broken liquor bottles embedded in the turf, which Rivera said render the field a total loss.

In Hudson, that potential disaster may have been foretold as officials watched Floripa Productions fumble for almost three months through the process of obtaining the contracts and permits needed to produce the concert at an outdoor soccer field owned by the Portuguese Club.

On July 11, less than four weeks before the concert was to happen, the town of Hudson shut it down.

"There was a plan, but nothing tangible to back up the plan," Hudson Selectman Fred Lucy said Tuesday. "The plan was, we're going to have parking here, but what was missing were the contracts with landowners saying you can have parking here. There was a plan to transport people, what was missing was a contract. There was a plan for security, (but no contract to provide it)."

Excellent plans, Lucy said, but no contracts.

"Ultimately, what the Board of Selectman was looking for was not delivered," he said. "It became too much to expect that finally, after several months of not coming together, it was going to come together in a few weeks."

Scott Duplisea, chairman of the HudsonBoard of Selectmen, said the damage left by the Floripa Productions concert in Lawrence "indicates we made the right decision."

"They just told the (Portuguese) Club, 'We're going to bring in a lot of people and you're going to make a lot of money,' " Duplisea said. "They wouldn't answer all the questions that come with an event that size."

Floripa's owner, Rita Mondardo, signed a contract with Lawrence Economic Development Director Abel Vargas, for the Oct. 2 concert. Floripa was to obtain traffic and crowd control coverage from the Lawrence Police Department, as well as permitting from the Licensing Board to sell beer and wine. Floripa also was required to hire a private company or the city to haul away trash.

Laiza St. Onge, the city employee who schedules events at the stadium and steers applicants through the approval process, said Floripa was required to obtain a permit from the Fire Department, too. And the company was required to have an agreement with a private ambulance company for medical care.

The Licensing Board issued the beer and wine permit.

Police Chief James Fitzpatrick said last week that his department negotiated with Floripa Productions for police coverage, but did not sign a contract with the company.

Since then, Rivera has ordered all city employees with knowledge of the concert not to talk to the press about the event, so it could not be immediately learned which of the other required contracts, permits and agreements Floripa Productions received.

The Eagle-Tribune is filing a request under the state's Public Records Law for copies of the documents.

In Hudson, crowd control was an overriding concern about the concert, beginning with how the company would limit attendance to the 3,500 tickets sold.

Mandardo said she would have one or two scanners to count people as they entered, which officials said was inadequate.

In Lawrence, that fear played out. The contract Floripa Productions signed with the city states that, "The number of occupants shall not exceed the capacity for the premises leased."

The contract is not specific, but the capacity at Veterans Stadium is 9,000 people.

On Saturday, Floripa Productions posted a statement on its website boasting, "The event brought together more than 10,000 Brazilians from several states of the USA, making the event even more beautiful."

The company also thanked the people who attended and said the discussions between its lawyer and Lawrence City Attorney Charles Boddy about compensating the city for the damages have been "productive."

On Tuesday, Mondardo referred questions about the event to a man she called Marcello. His voicemail was full.

Rivera declined to comment for this story, citing the "complexity and sensitivity of the insurance and litigation process."

In Hudson, Selectman Duplisea said the events in Lawrence vindicated the decision to say no to Floripa.

"I'm sure they tried to do the right thing, too," Duplisea said. "Unfortunately for them, it didn't quite work out that way. I can't speak for them, but speaking on our part, I'm glad we denied it."